


Shipped

by howardently



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 01:31:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7738000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howardently/pseuds/howardently
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:  We hate each other but apparently our teachers ship us and make us partner up all the time and sit next to each other and for the love of God if you don’t shut your mouth I’m gonna shove you on the desk and SNOG THE HELL OUT OF YOU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shipped

“Uggggghhhhh, not again.” Finn moans, clasping the laptop screen in both hands. He shakes it gently (it’s expensive and he’s already used all his financial aid for the year) like the motion might change the name on the screen.

Archie leans over along the lecture hall desk and chuckles when he sees the email. “You just can’t get rid of her, can you?”

“She’s in three of my classes.” Finn shakes his head, stares up into one of the florescent lights over head. “What’s the probability that she’d be my bloody assigned partner three times in one semester? There’s like four hundred people in that music lecture, the odds have to be miniscule.”

“You’re so much more boring since you took statistics.” Archie claps him on the back and pulls a face.

Finn shoves him. “Right, cause everyone is fascinated by facts about Henry VIII.”

“Twat.” Archie snarks back. Finn stares at him flatly for a moment, then jerks up to put him in a headlock. It’s a familiar move though, and Archie goes boneless to slide out of his grasp. Finn hooks a hand under Archie’s armpit instead, and they scuffle for a few more minutes as the hall fills around them.

Later, as the professor turns to write on the white board behind him, Archie leans over to glance at Finn’s screen again and whisper, “I kind of wish I was in any of those boring classes. Any bird who drives you this crazy deserves a cup of coffee, at least.”

—

She sighs heavily as she slides into the seat in front of him. He opens his mouth to say hello, but she holds a hand up.

“Don’t bother. I know exactly what you’re going to say,” she rolls her eyes and affects a deep, bored voice (which, for the record, sounds nothing like him), “ ‘I can’t believe they put us together again. We should email to see if we can switch partners.’ Well, we can’t. I already asked.”

It shouldn’t bother him, because he’d have asked too if he’d thought about it, but it kind of stings. He’s not the problem with this partnership; he’s not the one who insists on doing everything completely his own way.

“You emailed the professor to tell her you don’t like me? What are you, twelve?” He sneers. He’s learned that he can’t show any weakness with her, or she’ll wrestle control completely away.

“No.” She hisses back. “I emailed Jenny.”

“Who’s Jenny?”

“God.” She huffs, rolling her eyes again. “You really have your head completely up your arse, don’t you? She’s the TA. For both these classes. You know, the one at the front of the room every Friday. The one who assists with the teaching.”

“I know who the TA is, thank you.” He lets his jaw drop to show her just how insufferable she is. “I just didn’t know her name was Jenny.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me? You are spectacularly unobservant. Do you even know my name?”

“Of course I know your name. It’s on all my bloody papers, isn’t it? In my email every week. Rachel bloody Earl.” She looks off to the side, no snappy retort this time. He smiles viciously, point to Finn.

“Look, can we just get started? I haven’t got all day.” She huffs, tugging her laptop out of her bag and propping it onto the small café table. She pushes aside one of the disposable cups  to make room. “How many drinks do you need, Nelson? Jeez.”

He shakes his head slowly, so she’ll get what a cow she’s being. “One’s for you, obviously.”

“Oh.” She picks up the cup and spins it in her hands, examining it. She looks at him questioningly, then sets it back on the table.

“It’s not poisoned or anything.” He hisses. “It’s just tea. Throw it away if you don’t want it.”

“Fine.” Rae mutters, not looking up from her screen.

The tea’s long gone cold before she takes a sip.

—

“You’re way over-estimating the influence Led Zeppelin had over modern rock.” She argues, pointing a finger at his chest. They’re sitting on the floor of his living room, backs against the couch, laptops propped up on the coffee table over their legs.

“Yeah, sure I am.” He laughs, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth. The bowl’s been sitting between them on the floor for the last half hour, but she’s not eaten any. “Just like Professor Corcoran is over-estimating how much effect Shakespeare has had on language, right?”

“You know nothing, John Snow.” She mutters, glancing over at him. He gives her a big, popcorny grin.

“Mfarf darf locken garmed de pho.” He retorts, mouth full.

“You’re disgusting.” She turns back to her laptop with a superior look.

“I said, my dad loves Game of Thrones. You and he would get along like gangbusters, I bet.  You’re both super bossy and love the sound of your own voice.”

“Better than your chipmunk voice. Do you think puberty is ever going to come for you, Finn? Or are your balls going to stay tucked up inside you forever?” She coos sweetly, eyelashes fluttering.

He doubles over laughing, nearly hitting his head on the coffee table. She’s funny, he’ll give her that. Bossy and controlling and annoying, but funny.

Rae doesn’t even try to hide her smile. She gives it to him wide open, one eyebrow raised. She even bites her bottom lip smugly.

He holds up his hands. “Alright, you win this round, Mae.”

“Good.” She turns back to her screen, fingers returning to the keyboard. “Cause I am not writing this stupid wiki article on fucking Led Zeppelin.”

—

“Rae, Finn, can I talk to the two of you a moment, please?” Jenny calls as he’s packing up his bag. He glances up at Rae, but she merely shrugs.

They’d finished their second project only the afternoon before. Rae’d insisted that she be the one to turn it in, of course. Heaven forbid there be a single aspect that she didn’t have complete control over. But he’d felt pretty good about the work that they’d done, so he’d capitulated. Whatever else she was, she was smart.

“Something wrong?” Rae asks, reaching up to push her hair back the way she does when she’s especially flustered.

His eyebrows lower. When had he filed that information away? Weird that he’s tracking what she does with her hair.

“No, not wrong.” Jenny says, and he turns his attention back to her worriedly. “But I did notice that your wiki page didn’t have any information on it when I checked this morning. You should have at least half of it in draft version by now.”

“It’s up,” he insists, “most of it. I posted it on Monday.” He’d spent three hours working on it, fiddling with the formatting and type.

Rae groans softly. Her eyes are hard when she looks at him, but she doesn’t say anything.

“You should check the site.” Jenny offers mildly. “It may have just been a problem with the upload. I’m sure you backed up, you should be able to just reload.”

He swallows. Fucking backup. He was supposed to back it up.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s all it is.” Rae tells Jenny, stepping a little closer. “We’ll get it put up right away.”

Jenny tilts her head, considering them. “You are working on it together, right? It’s a joint project. If you don’t work together, you’ll both fail.”

He feels stunned, brain still spinning on ‘backup.’ Rae’s hand clamps around his wrist.

“Yeah, of course.” She says cheerfully, tossing off a light laugh. “Even if he is a pain in the arse, we’re working together just fine.”

“I know you had some concerns at the beginning of the project…”

He cuts in, “No, we’re getting along just fine now. Doing great. Most of the work is done, just needs to be put up!”

Rae’s hand is so tight that his fingers are probably turning purple.

Jenny gives them another considering look, then smiles. “Well, that’s good news. I’ll look forward to seeing your final project next week. I’m sure the two of you will have done excellent work.”

Jenny turns back to her desk, tapping a stack of papers to straighten them, and Rae pulls him out of the room with her death grip. She drags him into a mostly abandoned hall and pushes him into a corner.

It’s a bad time to notice how close she is, to be thinking about how her breasts are just shy of touching his chest. She’s flushed, and he’s sure he’s definitely flushed, and he’s missed everything she’s saying.

“Are you even listening?” She spins away, grabbing handfuls of hair at her temples. “What is wrong with you?”

“It was an accident!” He’s surprised to find himself yell back. “I didn’t think…”

“Yeah, you never think!” She shrieks. Two bright circles of pink have bloomed over her cheeks. “That’s half the flipping problem. Do you even know how?”

She’s suddenly right in front of him, tapping one of his temples with two fingers. He grabs her wrist, scowling at her in annoyance. “Do you?!”

If they were close before, they’re really close now. She’s breathing heavy, her eyes narrowed, and his treacherous gaze drops to her mouth to see the breath coming in soft pants out of her damp lips. Fuck. Really, really bad time to be thinking about kissing her. Not that there’s a good time. There’s no time. He definitely should not be thinking about kissing her.

He drops her hand and she wrenches back.

“You are the most annoying man in the world.” She hisses at him, glaring spectacularly, and then spins to stalk off down the hall.

Finn slumps against the nearest wall. Shit.

—

“No, it goes there. There.” Rae stands over his shoulder, pointing at a spot on the screen.

“I’m doing it! For fucks sake! You don’t have to watch the whole damn time.” He grouses without looking up.

“Look what happened last time I let you do it! I’ll just stand right here, thank you very much.” She crosses her arms over her chest. He can feel it.

He can feel everything she does now. Everything. He’s awkwardly, uncomfortably aware of her body, of every shift and stretch and movement. It’s like it’s a completely separate thing from the rest of her, which he still finds mind-numbingly frustrating.

“Look.” He spins in his chair, elbow propped over the back. It grazes her stomach, but he deliberately doesn’t think about that. “I can’t concentrate with you hovering like that. Just sit down, and I’ll let you look at it once I’m done. Unless you want to just do it all?”

Her eyes thin into irritated slits. She’s been wretched to him since the talk with Jenny, short and sharp and just this side of mean. Combined with his newfound and constant awareness of her, it’s making these long study sessions unbearable.

“No, you have to do it. Teamwork, remember? All that cooperation bullshit.”

She grumbles under her breath for a while once he’s returned to typing. He tries to ignore it, but it niggles in his brain, makes everything take twice as long to write. He jerks around.

“I’m trying to work here,” he barks, making Rae jump, “and you’re making it impossible with that mouth of yours!”

“This mouth of mine?”She repeats, and it’s dangerous. He can’t help but glance up at the mouth in question.

Finn swallows. Then shrugs.

“You’re unbelievable.” She says, not quite as venomous as he’d expect. Something has shifted, but he’s not sure what. Her cheeks are pink again.

He stands up, walks in front of her, crossing his arms over his chest. “Look, Rae.” She rolls her eyes. “I know I messed it up, okay? I know. I spent hours on it. Hours. And it’s just gone. I made a mistake, and I really don’t need you to make me feel more like shit about it. I’ve got that part covered.”

She watches his face, jaw tight, through his little speech. Her lips purse. Finally, she nods.

He returns to his computer, and Rae takes a seat on the other side of the table. She pulls out a textbook and settles in to read.

“I didn’t mean to make you feel like shit.” She says softly a little while later.

“Yeah, well, you did.” He retorts.

—

“It’s right there.” She huffs, close enough that he can smell her breath over his shoulder. Strawberries. She always smells like fruit, and it’s a problem. “Just…  I’ll do it.”

“No, you won’t.” He pulls the mouse in his direction, but she doesn’t lift her hand off of his, still trying to control the cursor. “I’ve got it. God, you’re bossy.”

“Stop calling me bossy.”

“Stop being so bossy then.” He wrenches the mouse away, grinning at her smugly. Man, her face is close. She’s got such pretty eyes, wide and glittering and dark. He turns back to the screen and rubs a hand over his face. It’s late, that’s all.

“If you’d do it right, I wouldn’t have to boss you around.” She snipes.

“I am doing it right.”

It’s the last night. The last night that he’s going to have to suffer through her telling him what to do, suffer through her boobs pressed against his arm as she points at the screen he’s working on. The wiki is due at midnight, so at 12:01, he’ll be free of Rae Earl. Less than an hour.

“No, just… It’s right there, Finn. Right there! Just give me the mouse and I’ll do it myself!” She tries for the mouse again, and he swirls it around the screen just to annoy her. She makes a strangled noise.

“Right where?” He swirls the mouse again, deliberately pointing to an area of the screen they’ve already completed. “Here? I thought you gave this part the anal retentive Rae Earl ok?”

“I am not anal retentive!” She shrieks, lunging forward to grab the laptop. She’s lurched practically in his lap. This is also a problem. “Aha!” She crows, holding the computer above her head. He reaches for it, but she stands up and moves to the other side of the study room.

“You’re acting pretty anal retentive right now!” He stalks towards her. Rae moves around the table in the opposite direction, hunching over to poke at the keyboard with one hand. “This might be textbook behavior, actually. Refusing to let others participate, taking over all responsibilities. You’re a control freak, is what you are!”

They’re going in circles, and despite her typing, she’s just wily enough to stay out of reach. She reads the screen, mumbling the words out loud. She ducks and swerves and spins. She’s got insane focus, still reading the words while dodging him. It’s one more thing for him to begrudgingly admire.

“Rae, I was doing it! I can do it just fine, you don’t need to steal my laptop. It’s theft. Theft! I’m going to report you. And tell Jenny that you refused to let me share responsibility for this stupid assignment!”

She keeps walking, keeps reading. He stops and tries a different tactic, hollering whatever nonsense he can think of  to distract her. If she’s going to prevent him from doing it, he’s sure as shit going to keep her from doing it either. He’s recited lines from four or five different songs when she finally hits her limit.

“Enough!” She shouts, nearly slamming the computer down on the table between them. “Just shut up, will you? You’re driving me nuts! If you’ll just be quiet for five bloody minutes, I can finish this thing and be done!”

He stares at her for a long moment, then calmly (and okay, a bit spitefully), half-sings lyrics from the worst song he can think of. “Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.”

Rae makes a noise, a kind of shrieking groan. And then she says it.

“For the love of God, if you don’t shut your mouth, I’m going to throw you on that desk and snog the hell out of you!”

He stops singing immediately, jaw falling open. Rae wears a similar expression.

It’s quiet for a long minute, both of them flushed and staring. “What did you say?” Finn asks.

“Nothing.” She shoots back quickly. “Flog. I said flog. If you don’t shut up, I’m going to FLOG the hell out of you.”

“No you didn’t.”He shakes his head, a smile growing over his lips. “You said snog. You want to snog me.”

“No I don’t.” She’s quick again. And very very red.

Finn takes a big, swift step towards her. She doesn’t move away this time, though her eyes get impossibly wider. “Do you want to kiss me, Rae? Is that why you’re so mean to me all the time? Playground tactics?”

“No, I…” She stammers. He’s inching forward and he expects her to move back, but she doesn’t. “I didn’t mean… I… You…” She scoffs dismissively, but it’s weak and they both know it.

If she wasn’t so busy blushing and staring at the carpet, she’d be able to see the enormous feline smile he’s wearing. But as it is, she misses it entirely.

“You could have just asked, you know. Might have made the project go smoother.” He’s doing his seductive voice, and he’s not sure if it’s exactly on purpose, but he’s been thinking about her mouth way more than he’s been thinking about statistical abnormalities and probability, so…

“What?” She jerks her head up. Her eyes are wary still, but maybe a little hopeful, too.

He’s close now, so he lifts a hand, slow, letting his reach to touch her be an invitation. So when he carefully sets his palm on her forearm and she doesn’t move away, he takes it as acceptance.  He gets a little closer, slides up her arm, fingers dancing over the angle of her elbow and the curve of her shoulder. His hands don’t stop until they reach her neck, until the downy soft skin of her jaw rests beneath his thumb.

It’s the quietest it’s ever been between them. Neither of them are seething or panting or scowling. When she inhales long, her breasts lift to press against his chest, and he’s definitely thinking about kissing her and it may actually be the best time there ever was to think about it.

“Rae, I would love it if you’d throw me down and snog the hell out of me.” He teases softly, airily, breath dancing between them.

She laughs, shoving weakly at his shoulder. It doesn’t push him away at all, and he’s not sure if she didn’t put any force into it, or if he’s just caught in her orbit now. She’s smiling, and it’s a new smile he’s never had before. It’s a smile that makes him think about sex, about the slopes of her waiting to be discovered. And about something else, something fleeting and fuzzy and warm.

“I thought I told you to shut up.” She whispers, eyes sparkling and lips curved like every dirty thought he’s ever had.

“Make me.”

So she does.

But it’s him who does the throwing (okay, more like gentle guiding) and the snogging the hell out of.

—

“Shit!” She announces some time later, and he has to peel himself away- peel his hands out of her hair, his head away from the lust haze.

God, he’d forgotten it could be like that. That just snogging could be… everything.

“What?” He asks dumbly, tugging at her shirt to get her to lie back down. He’s had his hand just there on the flesh of her back, and he hadn’t known girls were made like this, the kind of soft that made his parts hurt  (he’s not even thinking about which ones right now, because, jeez, they’ve only JUST kissed). Maybe it’s just her though, maybe she’s the only one made that way.

“What time is it?” She’s hunching over, scrambling for her phone. Her hands connect with something and a blue haze lights the shadows under the desk where they’ve been kissing.

So it’s not the cleanest place to make out, or the most romantic, or practical, or… whatever, it’s a terrible place to make out, but he wasn’t going to suggest a change of venue and risk upsetting this delightful new thing they’ve got going where he gets to put his tongue in her mouth.

“Fuck.” It comes out on an exhale, low and panicky and he knows it’s bad. His brain catches up a few seconds later (don’t judge, all his blood is occupied elsewhere) and he gets it.

“Oh shit.”

She holds out the phone for him to see. The crisp white numbers read 12:08.

—

“We’re really really sorry.” He says, using his best pleading tone. Beside him, Rae shifts in her seat, but he doesn’t take his attention off Jenny. This has to work. “We got it all posted, it was all done, we just… were a little late.”

Rae’s nodding when he looks over, and her eyes are wide and innocent and it makes him want to grin and laugh and all other kinds of soppy shit, because damn she’s good. She’s clever and biting and tricky, and it’s AWESOME. She’s awesome.

“We were all set to post and then, uh…” she glances at him, and he can see the act slipping a bit. “Something came up, and we just, weren’t able to get it up before the deadline.”

His twelve year old brain is screaming inside his skull, “YEAH, MY DICK, THAT’S WHAT CAME UP!” Fortunately, he’s twenty now and he can reign it in. Even if he does have to bite his lips.

Jenny clucks from the other side of the desk. “You were aware of the deadline for several weeks. I reminded the class about it on Wednesday. Don’t you remember my little lecture on the perils of waiting until the last minute?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Rae starts, licking her lips.

“Why shouldn’t you be held to the same standard as the rest of your classmates? Everyone else managed to get it up on time.” Jenny scolds.

It’s like being a kid again, hanging his head as Nan gives him a talking to for some transgression. It’s awful. He’d thought he was done with this when he’d left for Uni. Finn darts a worried look over at Rae, who is making a sad face in his direction. It’s heartbreaking- like, it seriously breaks his heart. God, this girl’s face. It’s utterly unfair. He reaches over to put a hand on her knee, to console her, if only a little. She gives him a weak smile before looking back at Jenny.

“We know we messed up, and there’s no reason why you should…”

“What’s that?” Jenny cuts her off again, pointing towards them. She smiles and leans over a little more in her seat.

“What’s what?” He’s confused, and this seems to make Jenny happier. Her grin gets bigger and she leans over the desk on her elbows.

“Your hand. Is your hand on her knee?” Jenny sounds gleeful. Finn snatches his hand away like it’s been burned. Jenny laughs and claps her hands together in jubilation. “MARK!” She calls. “Mark, get in here!”

Finn and Rae share a muddled look, worried and confused. Jenny’s shoulders rise with delight.

“MARK!” She calls again, over her shoulder. “Are you two, like, together now?”

“Uh…” Finn rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably.

All her teeth are visible when Jenny grins at them. “Is that why the project is late? Because you we’re…” she makes a swirling gesture with her index finger, “you know, being together?”

Rae makes a noise, like a little squeak. It’s so cute. He considers putting his hand back on her knee.

“Because if that’s the reason, it’s totally fine that you were late. What’s an hour, really? No big deal.” She shrugs, then bolts up from her desk to open the door and yell into the next room. “MARK!”

Rae reaches over and touches the back of his hand. She’s smiling tentatively. “Is this really happening right now?”

A tall brunette guy with crazy curly hair stumbles into the room. Finn recognizes him as one of the other TAs for the third class he and Rae share, though not the one they’re taught by. Mark too laughs when he sees them.

“No way! Really? I thought for sure this one was hopeless.” He tells Jenny. She hugs him around the middle.

“Nope. I win again.” She crows at him. “A few prods, some nudging, couple of projects that pair them together and VOILA!”

“Um, Jenny?” Rae asks, voice small, rising from her chair to turn towards Jenny. He stands too, a couple steps behind her.

Jenny looks over at their bemused faces and shakes her head. “Sorry, I know I’m seeming crazy, but this is my last semester and you guys were the holdouts. You almost ruined my perfect streak.”

“She picks pairs of students,” Mark ruffles Jenny’s hair affectionately, “and… Do you know what shipping is?”

Rae’s laughter is sharp and sudden. “You’re kidding.”

Finn shakes his head at Mark, trying to force some kind of man to man connection, hoping for an explanation as to why the women have all gone nuts today.

“It’s like matchmaking.” Mark offers with a rueful scrunch of his long, crooked nose.

“It’s not matchmaking!” Jenny proclaims. “More like, predicting and then cheering on from the sidelines. With the occasional little push in the right direction.”

“Wait, you put us together on all those projects on purpose?” Finn groans, then turns on Mark. “You too, huh?”

Mark only shrugs.

“Well it worked didn’t it? You two are together now, right?” Jenny asks.

Rae looks at him, and he feels uncertain because they’ve only just snogged the once. Well, okay, it’s was more than just one kiss, more like just one time making out. Alright, two, since they’d gone back to it for another half hour once they’d gotten the wiki up. But just the one night. That doesn’t mean they’re together. He doesn’t even know if she wants to be together.

But Rae’s eyes get all big and kind of scary and she makes a tiny, stiff jerk towards Jenny.

“Uh, yeah, I guess we kind of are.” Finn steps closer to Rae and takes her hand, smiling at her as warmly as he can and then turning that smile on Jenny. “I mean, it’s pretty new and stuff, but…”

Rae dips her head to the floor to hide the pretty rose flush that lights up her face, but he sees it anyway. She’s smiling bashfully, smoothing a piece of her hair with one hand, and he has a moment of worry that the way he’d interpreted that look before was very very wrong. He may have just told this girl, in front of their teacher, that they’re together after one kiss. His stomach drops.

And then a scarier thought occurs to him, and his stomach drops even more. _Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad._

He doesn’t have time to take that apart though, because Jenny is cooing and he’s turning to find her with her hands tucked up under her chin like she’s about to swoon.

“I’m so glad you two worked it out.” Jenny says. “Right from the beginning, I just knew! But then you got off on such a bad foot, and… well, I’m just so glad it worked out.” She wraps her arms around Mark, who smiles affectionately down at her. “So, yeah, definitely don’t worry about the project. It’s fine!”

“Thank you for understanding. Thank you so much.” Rae laughs, tugging on his hand and moving towards the door. “We’re just gonna go now. You’ll understand that, too, I bet.”

It’s his turn to blush at the way the two girls chuckle conspiratorially.

“Yeah, of course.” Mark cuffs him on the shoulder as they walk past.

“Enjoy your day!” Jenny calls as they push the door open.

They hold hands all the way out of the building, where he steers them into the shade of a pair of huge old oaks. When he drops her hand, Rae cards all ten fingers through the hair at her temples, and looks over his shoulder to the quiet campus.

“What just happened?” He mutters.

“What happened? We just got bloody lucky is what happened.”

“Ha! Lucky that all our teachers were trying to get up to hook up?” He scoffs, tossing his bookbag down and sitting on a nearby bench.

Rae follows, but stays standing. “Lucky that we did hook up, I guess. I bet we’ll get an A now.”

“Rae, you don’t…” He tries. “I mean, you know… You don’t think we’re really together now, do you?”

She looks him straight on for a minute, flat faced. Then she flutters her eyelashes, eyes getting all big and doe-y. “What do you mean? We kissed, of course that means we’re together.” She sits beside him, knees pressing against his. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t believe we were going to get married one day.”

His jaw drops. Married? Holy hell. He should have known better. He did know better. He’s been oh-so familiar with her control tendencies for the last five months. Her smelling like berries and tasting like heaven and feeling like a wet dream didn’t exactly make up for all the rest. Did it?

Out of nowhere, Rae smacks his arm. “Of course I don’t think we’re together, you idiot. I don’t even like you.”

The tension radiating through him snaps suddenly, and he feels deflated and foolish. “Oh.” He mumbles, and then, to cover up how stupid he feels, “You seemed to like me just fine last night, if your tongue down my throat is any indicator.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not. Just because I want to snog you doesn’t mean I like you.” Her eyes are narrow and combative, and he finally feels like he’s back on level ground.

“Well good. ‘Cause I don’t like you either.” Lies, he’s all lies.

“Good.” She leans back on the bench, arms crossed, but loosely, he notes.

They watch a bird peck along the ground a few feet away, silent but not stewing. Finn feels the weight of the stress and his lack of sleep settle over his shoulders, and he’s longing for his bed and maybe a few other things.

“Hey, listen.” He offers gently, all the fight drained out of him. “You want to go back to mine and snog some more and then take a nap?”

Rae doesn’t say anything for a bit, and he starts to get keyed up and nervous about having said the wrong thing again. Maybe she really doesn’t like him and last night was just a fluke from the pressure of all these projects. Maybe now they’re really done with one another and she’ll sit on the other side of the room and he’ll never argue with her just for the sake of arguing ever again.

The bird they’ve been watching hops and warbles, then takes off.

“Yeah, okay.” Rae smiles without looking at him. “But nap first, yeah?”


End file.
